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Monday, January 4, 2016

Cleveland Cinematheque January/February 2016 Schedule

[Press release from the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

New
films by Laurie Anderson, Frederick Wiseman, and Matthew Barney are
among the big-screen offerings that the Cleveland Institute of Art
Cinematheque will premiere locally during January and February in its
new state-of-the-art Peter B. Lewis Theater, 11610 Euclid Avenue in the
Uptown District of University Circle. The new year will also introduce a
new weekly series, “The Medium Is the Message,” consisting of 35mm film
prints of classic movies. And one of the “holy grails” of world cinema,
Jacques Rivette’s legendary, long unseen, 13-hour 1971 French New Wave
classic OUT 1, will show over four Thursdays in January. The complete
two-month schedule is below.

Unless noted, admission to each Cinematheque film is $9; Cinematheque members, those with Cleveland Institute of Art or Cleveland State University I.D.’s
(this is new), and those age 25 & under $7. A second film on the
same day costs an additional $7 (or the prevailing member price). Free
parking for filmgoers is available in two CIA lots accessed from E. 117th Street: Lot 73 (behind the building and adjacent to Cinematheque entrance C) and the CIA Annex lot (on the other side of E. 117th). For further information, call John Ewing or Tim Harry at (216) 421-7450, send an email to cinema@cia.edu, or visit cia.edu/cinematheque. Cinematheque programs are supported by a grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

JANUARY 7-10

Thursday, January 7, at 6:45 pm

OUT 1: NOLI ME TANGERE (Episodes 1 & 2)

France, 1971, Jacques Rivette

One
of the “holy grails” of world cinema can now be seen! The fourth film
by French New Wave master Jacques Rivette is a 12-hour and 55-minute
opus (in eight episodes) featuring an all-star cast of Nouvelle Vague icons:
Jean-Pierre Léaud, Juliet Berto, Bulle Ogier, Françoise Fabian,
Bernadette Lafont, Michael Lonsdale, Erich Rohmer, Barbet Schroeder, et
al. Inspired by the epic narratives of Balzac (with a tip of the mad hat
to Lewis Carroll), the movie focuses on two experimental theater
groups, each rehearsing an Aeschylus play, and on some peripheral
Parisians—most notably a “deaf mute” busker and a cunning con woman who
both may have accidentally uncovered a citywide conspiracy involving a
secret society (“the Thirteen”). The characters in these different
spheres cross paths and interact in an ever-expanding web of
performance; eventually, according to Rivette, “the fiction swallows
everything up and then self-destructs.” Out 1 was originally
envisioned as a TV mini-series. But when French television rejected it,
Rivette edited his footage down to a four-hour version (with a totally
different vision) entitled Out 1: Spectre, released in 1974. His original 775-minute movie, given the name Out 1: Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not),
was projected only once—in 1971—and then did not resurface until 1989.
Given only a handful of special screenings around the world since then, Out 1: Noli Me Tangere has
now been digitally restored and released to theaters. It’s one of the
cinema events of the decade! Cleveland theatrical premiere. Subtitles.
DCP. 199 min. Out 1 will be
shown in four parts over four successive Thursdays. Admission to all
four parts is $25; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 &
under $20. Admission to individual parts is $9; members, etc. $7. No
passes, twofers, or radio winners.

Friday, January 8, at 7:15 pm &

Sunday, January 10, at 8:35 pm

OFFICE

HUA LI SHANG BAN ZU

China/Hong Kong, 2015, Johnnie To

Chinese
superstars Chow Yun-fat and Sylvia Chang star in this elaborate musical
extravaganza set in the world of corporate high finance, about a
billion-dollar company that is going public. Office, with a score
by Chinese pop icon Lo Ta-yu, marks a striking change of pace for
virtuoso HK action master Johnnie To, but he is more than up to the
task. “One of the most original and imaginative musicals of the last
decade.” –Ignatiy Vishnevetsky. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 119
min.

Friday, January 8, at 9:35 pm &

Saturday, January 9, at 7:15 pm

HEART OF A DOG

France/USA, 2015, Laurie Anderson

The
first film in almost three decades by musician and performance artist
Laurie Anderson begins as an ode to her late pet (a rat terrier named
Lolabelle) but eventually expands into a general meditation on love,
loss, language, and mortality. Alternately goofy, lyrical, and
enchanting, this free-associative cine-essay touches upon many
things—from life in post-9/11 New York to the 2013 death of Anderson’s
longtime partner, musician Lou Reed. “A celebration of life.” –San Francisco Chronicle. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 75 min. www.heartofadogfilm.com

Saturday, January 9, at 5:00 pm &

Sunday, January 10, at 4:00 pm

Film Classics in 35mm!

50th Anniversary!

BLOW-UP

UK/Italy/USA, 1966, Michelangelo Antonioni

Antonioni’s
biggest commercial success was an adults-only sensation when first
released, and went on to become one of the most discussed and debated
movies of its era. (It was spoofed in Austin Powers 2.) Set in
“mod” London during the swinging sixties, it tells of a shallow fashion
photographer (David Hemmings) who captures what may or may not be
evidence of a murder in one of his outdoor shots. This colorful critique
of soulless hipsters is actually a meditation on appearance, illusion,
and the elusive nature of truth. With Vanessa Redgrave. 111 min. Special
admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under
$8. No passes, twofers, or radio winners. For a related film, see Blow Out on 1/16 & 17.

Geraldine
Chaplin is superb in this touching, understated film about an elderly
white woman vacationing on the beaches of the Dominican Republic, where
she falls in love with a twentyish local black woman who works in the
tourist sex trade. This sensitive drama is the Dominican submission for
this year’s foreign-film Oscar. “[A] remarkably sensitive, nonjudgmental
portrait of an unequal lesbian relationship.” –Variety. Adults only! Cleveland theatrical premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 84 min.

Friday, January 15, at 9:15 pm &

Saturday, January 16, at 7:15 pm

THE WONDERS

LE MERAVIGLIE

Italy/Switzerland/Germany, 2014, Alice Rohrwacher

The highly acclaimed second film from the director of Corpo Celeste focuses
on a family of traditional beekeepers—father, mother, and four
daughters—living in the Tuscan countryside. The stern, German
paterfamilias wants to keep the modern world at bay, but enterprising
oldest daughter Gelsomina thinks they should participate in a
rural-oriented reality TV show in order to make some much-needed cash.
Grand Prix, 2014 Cannes Film Festival. With Monica Bellucci. “A wistful
but no-tears swan song recounting the disappearance of traditional rural
lifestyle in Italy.” –Hollywood Reporter. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 110 min. thewonders.oscilloscope.net

Saturday, January 16, at 5:00 pm

Wim Wenders: Portraits Along the Road

New 4K Digital Restoration!

THE LEFT-HANDED WOMAN

DIE LINKSHÄNDIGE FRAU

West Germany, 1978, Peter Handke

The
final film in our three-month Wim Wenders series was produced by
Wenders but written and directed by his longtime screenwriter Peter
Handke. Edith Clever, Bruno Ganz, Michael Lonsdale, Gerard Dépardieu,
and Rüdiger Vogler star in the movie, a laconic, painterly account of an
unsettled German wife living in Paris who withdraws from her husband
and family and tries to rediscover her place in the universe.
Cinematography by Robby Müller. “A hymn to a woman’s liberating private
growth.” –Time Out Film Guide. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 115 min.

Saturday, January 16, at 7:15 pm

THE WONDERS

See 1/15 at 9:15 for description

Saturday, January 16, at 9:25 pm &

Sunday, January 17, at 6:30 pm

Film Classics in 35mm!

BLOW OUT

USA, 1981, Brian De Palma

Inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up (see
1/9 & 10), this celebrated Brian De Palma thriller stars John
Travolta as a motion picture sound recordist who unintentionally
captures an automobile accident on audio tape, and learns later that the
crash might have been part of a plot to assassinate a Presidential
candidate. With Nancy Allen and John Lithgow. Cinematography by Vilmos
Zsigmond. 107 min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8. No passes, twofers, or radio winners.

Sunday, January 17, at 3:00 pm

A Special Event!

Pre-film discussion & post-film Q&A!

THE COTTON CLUB

USA, 1984, Francis Coppola

Today
the Cinematheque and The Musical Theater Project team up to present a
special screening of the music and crime film that reunited the producer
(Robert Evans), director (Francis Ford Coppola), and co-screenwriter
(Mario Puzo) of The Godfather. Centered around the legendary Harlem nightclub of the 1920s and 1930s where black performers entertained white patrons, The Cotton Club
is a tale of jazz musicians, mobsters, and molls, and mixes musical
numbers with scenes of underworld activities. The all-star cast includes
Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee, Bob Hoskins,
Nicholas Cage, Fred Gwynne, and Gwen Verdon. TMTP artistic director Bill
Rudman and Cinematheque director John Ewing will discuss the film
before it screens at 3:30. They will also answer questions after the
movie. 35mm. Total program time 180 min. Special
admission $15; Cinematheque and TMTP members, CIA & CSU I.D.
holders, age 25 & under $10. No passes, twofers, or radio winners.
TMTP presents a multimedia concert, “Curtain Up at The Cotton Club,” on
1/30 & 31 at the Hanna Theatre. Visit musicaltheaterproject.org for
details.

Sunday, January 17, at 6:30 pm

BLOW OUT

See 1/16 at 9:25 for description

Sunday, January 17, at 8:40 pm

SAND DOLLARS

See 1/15 at 7:30 for description

JANUARY 21-24

Thursday, January 21, at 6:45 pm

OUT 1: NOLI ME TANGERE (Episodes 5 & 6)

See 1/7 at 6:45 for description. 190 min.

NO FILMS FRI., 1/22

Saturday, January 23, at 5:00 pm &

Sunday, January 24, at 8:30 pm

Film Classics in 35mm!

THE SCARLET EMPRESS

USA, 1934, Josef von Sternberg

The
most sumptuous, excessive, and flamboyant of the seven Marlene
Dietrich/Josef von Sternberg collaborations chronicles the 18th-century
rise of Catherine the Great from German princess to wife of the mad
Grand Duke Peter (Sam Jaffe) to empress of Russia. Unsurpassed visual
spectacle—majestic, operatic, delirious, and grotesque. “Among the most
bewildering and bizarre films ever to emerge from a major Hollywood
studio…The most imaginative film of the sound era prior to Citizen Kane.” ­–Cult Movies. “A visual orgy.” –Leonard Maltin. Vault print from the Universal Pictures studio archive. 109 min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8. No passes, twofers, or radio winners.

Saturday, January 23, at 7:10 pm

THE ASSASSIN

NIE YIN NIANG

Taiwan/China/Hong Kong/France, 2015, Hou Hsiao-hsien

Voted best film of 2015 in Sight & Sound magazine’s
poll of 168 international film critics, the first feature in eight
years by Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien (and his only “martial arts”
movie) is easily one of the most beautiful color motion pictures ever
made. Set in 8th-century China, the film follows a deadly female killer
who has compassion/empathy issues that impair her work. To overcome
them, she is ordered to eliminate a political enemy who is also her
cousin, and someone to whom she was once betrothed. Leads Shu Qi and
Chang Chen previously starred in Hou’s Three Times. Best Director, Cannes 2015. Subtitles. DCP. 105 min. wellgousa.com/theatrical/the-assassin

Saturday, January 23, at 9:15 pm &

Sunday, January 24, at 6:30 pm

World War I + 100

THEEB

UAE/Qatar/Jordan/UK, 2014, Naji Abu Nowar

This exciting, handsomely photographed drama, set (like Lawrence of Arabia)
in Ottoman-controlled Arabia during WWI, is one of the most auspicious
directorial debuts of the year. It’s also Jordan’s entry for this year’s
foreign-film Oscar and won the Best Director prize at last year’s
Venice Film Festival. It tells of two Bedouin brothers who escort a
British military officer to a well across the desert, dodging
mercenaries, rebels, and bandits along the way. “A classic adventure
film of the best kind.” –Variety. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 100 min. www.filmmovement.com

Sunday, January 24, at 4:15 pm

THE ARMOR OF LIGHT

USA, 2015, Abigail Disney, Kathleen Hughes

How
can someone who is pro-life also be pro-gun? That is the question
addressed in this electrifying new documentary, which follows Reverend
Rob Schenck, evangelical minister, anti-abortion activist, and fixture
on the political far right, as he catches flak from friends and
followers when he preaches about the growing toll of gun violence in
America. Schenck is eventually joined by Lucy McBath, a pro-choice
Christian whose unarmed teen son, Jordan Davis, was murdered in FL. “A
dual portrait in courage.” –Christian Science Monitor. “Puts a human face on the perpetually divisive topic.” –Hollywood Reporter. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 88 min. www.armoroflightfilm.com

Sunday, January 24, at 6:30 pm

THEEB

See 1/23 at 9:15 for description

Sunday, January 24, at 8:30 pm

THE SCARLET EMPRESS

See 1/23 at 5:00 for description

JANUARY 28-31

Thursday, January 28, at 6:45 pm

OUT 1: NOLI ME TANGERE (Episodes 7 & 8)

See 1/7 at 6:45 for description. 171 min.

Friday, January 29, at 7:00 pm &

Sunday, January 31, at 8:30 pm

Film Classics in 35mm!

THE BLACK CAT

USA, 1934, Edgar G. Ulmer

Boris
Karloff and Béla Lugosi were paired for the first time in one of the
creepiest and strangest movies ever to come out of Hollywood—an
expressionistic tale of devil worship and futuristic architecture set in
the aftermath of WWI. “A nightmare that involves necrophilia,
ailurophobia, drugs, a deadly game of chess, torture, flaying, and a
black mass with a human sacrifice...[A] bizarre, utterly irrational
masterpiece.” –Philip French. Vault print from the Universal Pictures
studio archive. 65 min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8. No passes, twofers, or radio winners.

Friday, January 29, at 8:20 pm

IN JACKSON HEIGHTS

USA, 2015, Frederick Wiseman

The
latest film by master documentarian Frederick Wiseman (a Cinematheque
guest last year) is a sprawling portrait of a Queens neighborhood that
is one of the most culturally diverse communities in America. (Reputedly
167 different languages are spoken there.) In Jackson Heights, people
of varied colors, religions, national origins, ages, income levels, and
sexual orientation work together to try to solve some of the
neighborhood’s pressing problems—protecting small businesses from
gentrification, acclimating new immigrants, etc. Wiseman has long been
the cinema’s foremost chronicler of American life and institutions; here
he humanizes the fabled melting pot. “A deeply stirring ode to the
immigrant experience and American identity.” –NY Times. Best Nonfiction Film of 2015, New York Film Critics Circle. Cleveland premiere. DCP. 190 min.

Saturday, January 30, at 6:00 pm &

Sunday, January 31, at 1:30 pm

A Special Event!

RIVER OF FUNDAMENT (Act 1)

USA, 2014, Matthew Barney

The indescribable but visually stupendous new film by artist and filmmaker Matthew Barney (the Cremaster cycle, Drawing Restraint 9)
is a five-hour-and-19-min. opera (music by Jonathan Bepler) in three
acts. (It will be shown with two 20-min. intermissions on Saturday, and a
20-min. intermission and a one-hour dinner break on Sunday.) Inspired
by Norman Mailer’s 1983 novel Ancient Evenings (set in ancient
Egypt) and featuring an all-star cast (Paul Giamatti, Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Ellen Burstyn, Aimee Mullins, Elaine Stritch, Debbie Harry, et al.,
with cameos by Dick Cavett, Salman Rushdie, James Toback, etc.), the
film is a tale of regeneration and rebirth in which Mailer’s soul, aided
by deceased Pharoaohs and Egyptian deities, seeks reincarnation and
immortality. Much of the movie is set in the writer’s Brooklyn Heights
brownstone during his wake. There New York’s cultural elite rubs elbows
with the unseen dead while Mailer’s soul struggles to be reborn from a
mystical River of Feces flowing beneath his house. A separate “subplot”
finds the hero’s journey paralleled by the rise and fall of the American
automobile industry. “Matthew Barney's scatological epic threads Norman
Mailer, Egyptian gods and anthropomorphized Chryslers together for six
hours of jaw-dropping cinematic art.” –Hollywood Reporter. Not for the squeamish. No one under 18 admitted! Cleveland premiere. 4K DCP. 7.1 digital sound. Act 1 running time: 115 min. Special
admission to the whole film (all 3 acts on the same day) $30;
Cinematheque & MOCA Cleveland members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders,
age 25-18 $20. Tickets to individual acts $15, members, etc. $10. No
passes, twofers, or radio winners.

Saturday, January 30, at 8:15 pm &

Sunday, January 31, at 3:45 pm

RIVER OF FUNDAMENT (Act 2)

See 1/30 at 6:00 for description. 108 min.

Saturday, January 30, at 10:25 pm &

Sunday, January 31, at 6:30 pm

RIVER OF FUNDAMENT (Act 3)

See 1/30 at 6:00 for description. 96 min.

Sunday, January 31, at 1:30 pm

RIVER OF FUNDAMENT (Act 1)

See 1/30 at 6:00 for description. 115 min.

Sunday, January 31, at 3:45 pm

RIVER OF FUNDAMENT (Act 2)

See 1/30 at 6:00 for description. 108 min.

Sunday, January 31, at 6:30 pm

RIVER OF FUNDAMENT (Act 3)

See 1/30 at 6:00 for description. 96 min.

Sunday, January 31, at 8:30 pm

THE BLACK CAT

See 1/29 at 7:00 for description

FEBRUARY 4-7

Thursday, February 4, at 6:45 pm &

Friday, February 5, at 9:10 pm

Film Classics in 35mm!

SABOTAGE

aka A WOMAN ALONE

UK, 1936, Alfred Hitchcock

One
of Alfred Hitchcock’s most exciting and cited films (made before he
emigrated to Hollywood) tells of a London cinema manager who is actually
a bomb-planting foreign saboteur. “May be just about the best of
[Hitchcock’s] English thrillers.” –Pauline Kael. With Sylvia Sidney and
Oscar Homolka; not to be confused with Hitchcock’s Secret Agent, which preceded it, or Saboteur, which followed six years later. 35mm. 76 min. Special
admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under
$8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners. See next blurb for a related
film.

Thursday, February 4, at 8:20 pm &

Friday, February 5, at 7:30 pm

HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT

France/USA, 2015, Kent Jones

In
1962 30-year-old French film critic and budding auteur François
Truffaut conducted an in-depth, eight-day interview with 63-year-old
Alfred Hitchcock at Universal Studios. This resulted in a book that
regarded the commercially successful Hollywood director, for the first
time, as an artist. The tome became a cornerstone of 1960s/1970s
cinephilia. In his new film that The Hollywood Reporter calls
“catnip for film buffs,” Kent Jones, programming director of the New
York Film Festival, looks back at that momentous meeting (which was
recorded but not filmed) and asks other cinema luminaries (Wes Anderson,
David Fincher, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, Richard Linklater, Peter
Bogdanovich, Olivier Assayas, et al.) to reflect on the impact of the
book and Hitchcock’s genius. Choice film clips illustrate their points.
Cleveland premiere. DCP. 80 min. cohenmedia.net See previous blurb for a related film.

Friday, February 5, at 9:10 pm

SABOTAGE

See 2/4 at 6:45 for description

Saturday, February 6, at 5:00 pm &

Sunday, February 7, at 6:30 pm

Four by Claude Sautet

New Digital Restoration!

LES CHOSES DE LA VIE (THE THINGS OF LIFE)

France, 1970, Claude Sautet

Michel
Piccoli and Romy Schneider star in this Claude Sautet drama about an
architect, separated from his wife and son, who is having an affair with
another woman. But he can’t commit fully to his new love because he
discovers he is still emotionally attached to his family. “Difficult to
make a film about banality without being boring in the process, but
Sautet pulls it off.” –Time Out Film Guide. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 85 min. www.rialtopictures.com

Saturday, February 6, at 6:45 pm &

Sunday, February 7, at 8:15 pm

ARABIAN NIGHTS: VOLUME 1 – THE RESTLESS ONE

AS MIL E UMA NOITES: VOLUME 1, O INQUIETO

Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland, 2015, Miguel Gomes

One of the film events of the year! The latest work from the acclaimed Portuguese director of 2012’s celebrated Tabu is
either one very long film (381 min.) or a trilogy; Gomes says it is
both. (We will show its three “volumes” over the next three weekends.)
Inspired by the literary classic One Thousand and One Nights, in
which the virgin Scheherazade indefinitely delays her morning death by
strangulation by regaling her sultan husband (and would-be killer) with
enthralling tales that don’t conclude until the next night, Gomes sets
his three films in his beleaguered Portugal, currently crippled by
layoffs, strikes, unemployment, and imposed austerity. Gomes channels
his rage over the current situation into a series of fantastical,
interlocking stories inspired by recent headlines and introduced by his
own Scheherazade. One highlight of Volume 1 is the satirical “The
Men with Hard-Ons,” in which European big shots demanding drastic cuts
to Portugal’s public expenditures mellow when a wizard bestows them with
enormous, everlasting erections. “By turns surreal, giddy, erotic,
didactic, righteous, exhausting, boundlessly creative and a thousand and
one other things…[A] shape-shifting colossus.” –Time Out Film Guide. “A tapestry of frustration, melancholy, and burlesque.” ­–Variety.

Long
out of release, this Shakespearean comedy/drama that Orson Welles
regarded as his greatest film (some critics concur) can now been seen
again! Welles compiled text from five different Shakespeare plays to
chronicle the almost-father-and-son friendship between rotund,
dissipated, disreputable Sir John Falstaff (Orson Welles) and young
Prince Hal (Keith Baxter), the man who would be King Henry V. According
to Pauline Kael, Welles' direction of the grim battle of Shrewsbury
“ranks with the finest of Griffith, John Ford, Eisenstein, Kurosawa.”
With John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau, Margaret Rutherford, et al. Cleveland
revival premiere. In English. DCP. 116 min. www.janusfilms.com

Sunday, February 7, at 6:30 pm

LES CHOSES DE LA VIE (THE THINGS OF LIFE)

See 2/6 at 5:00 for description

Sunday, February 7, at 8:15 pm

ARABIAN NIGHTS: VOLUME 1 – THE RESTLESS ONE

See 2/6 at 6:45 for description

FEBRUARY 11-14

Thursday, February 11, at 6:45 pm

FIELD NIGGAS

USA, 2015, Khalik Allah

In this immersive documentary that “seeks to give a voice to the voiceless and a face to the faceless” (Hollywood Reporter),
acclaimed NYC street photographer Khalik Allah trains his digital video
camera on the impoverished nighttime denizens who hang out at the
corner of 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in Harlem.
Employing slow motion and non-synchronous sound, Allah’s hallucinatory
nocturne captures these unfortunates (many of them homeless and drug
addicted) in the glare of streetlamps and storefront neon, often
enveloped in a haze of K2 smoke. The provocative title derives from a
speech by Malcolm X. “The most striking sort of urban portraiture.” –Village Voice. “An intimate movie with a metaphysical grandeur.” –The New Yorker. Cleveland
premiere. DCP. 60 min. khalikallah.tumblr.com/ Preceded at 6:45 by the
four four-min. short films commissioned from emerging and established
artists by Frieze Projects in London for 2015. This year’s filmmakers
are Charles Atlas, Gery Georgieva, the art collective Thirteen Black
Cats, and Xavier Cha. Cha's film, abduct, in which actors battle
conflicting emotions, was co-commissioned by MOCA Cleveland, where an
expanded version is on view from 1/29 through 5/8. Visit
mocacleveland.org for more info. MOCA members $7. Your ticket stub
from this screening will entitle you to half-price admission to MOCA
thru 2/29. Thanks to Rose Bouthillier.

Thursday, February 11, at 8:25 pm &

Friday, February 12, at 9:15 pm

ON WAR

DE LA GUERRE

France, 2008, Bertrand Bonello

Mathieu
Amalric, Asia Argento, Guillaume Depardieu, Léa Seydoux, and Michel
Piccoli star in this provocative dramedy made by French
writer/director/composer Bertrand Bonello just before his international
breakthroughs, House of Tolerance and Saint Laurent. Amalric
plays a film director who, after accidentally spending a life-changing
night locked inside a coffin, joins a strange cult of pleasure seekers
based at a remote mansion. There he and others touch each other, swim
naked, participate in raves, and wear masks in pursuit of unfiltered
spiritual, mental, and physical pleasure and “pure existence.” The film
gets even stranger and dreamier with the introduction of guns and
swords, visions of warfare, and references to Apocalypse Now. Adults only! Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 128 min. www.indicanpictures.com

NO EARLY FILM FRI., 2/12

Friday, February 12, at 9:15 pm

ON WAR

See 2/11 at 8:25 for description

Saturday, February 13, at 5:00 pm &

Sunday, February 14, at 4:30 pm

Film Classics in 35mm!

For Valentine’s Day

BRIEF ENCOUNTER

Britain, 1945, David Lean

Voted the most romantic film of all time in a poll of 101 film industry experts conducted by London’s Time Out Magazine (Casablanca finished
#2), David Lean’s celebrated drama has long been one of the cinema’s
great love stories. Written by Noël Coward, with music by Rachmaninoff, the
film stars Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson as decent, respectable,
middle-class Brits, both married with children, who meet by chance at a
train station, fall in love, and contemplate adultery. Unmissable! 86
min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

Saturday, February 13, at 6:45 pm &

Sunday, February 14, at 8:35 pm

ARABIAN NIGHTS: VOLUME 2 – THE DESOLATE ONE

AS MIL E UMA NOITES: VOLUME 2, O DESOLADO

Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland, 2015, Miguel Gomes

Part
two of Miguel Gomes’ collection of sad, hilarious, fantastic tales
illustrating the ill effects of economic belt-tightening in Portugal
(see 2/6 at 6:45) is the Portuguese entry for this year’s
foreign-language film Academy Award. Three stories are told in this
installment, starting with the intriguingly titled “Chronicle of the
Escape of Simão Without Bowels,” about a fugitive killer. “May be
austerity-themed, but it’s a sensual and intellectual feast.” –Variety. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 131 min. www.kinolorber.com

Saturday, February 13, at 9:20 pm &

Sunday, February 14, at 6:30 pm

Four by Claude Sautet

New Digital Restoration!

CÉSAR AND ROSALIE

CÉSAR ET ROSALIE

France/Italy/West Germany, 1972, Claude Sautet

In
Claude Sautet’s unconventional comic drama, a successful and jovial
scrap metal dealer (Yves Montand) finds his comfortable relationship
with a beautiful divorcée (Romy Schneider) threatened when one of her
first loves, a soft-spoken cartoonist (Sami Frey), turns up unexpectedly
one day. With Isabelle Huppert in one of her first screen roles. “A
fluky, wry ode on the imperfect, haphazard nature of romantic love.”
–Pauline Kael. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 107 min. www.rialtopictures.com

Sunday, February 14, at 4:30 pm

BRIEF ENCOUNTER

See 2/13 at 5:00 for description

Sunday, February 14, at 6:30 pm

CÉSAR AND ROSALIE

See 2/13 at 5:00 for description

Sunday, February 14, at 8:35 pm

ARABIAN NIGHTS: VOLUME 2 – THE DESOLATE ONE

See 2/13 at 6:45 for description

FEBRUARY 18-21

Thursday, February 18, at 6:45 pm &

Saturday, February 20, at 9:35 pm

Chantal Akerman, 1950-2015

NO HOME MOVIE

Belgium/France, 2015, Chantal Akerman

Topping
some critics’ Ten Best lists for 2015, and appearing on many others,
the final film by innovative Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman is an
uncompromising portrait of the person who was the most important figure
in her life: her mother. Natalia (Nelly) Akerman, a Polish immigrant and
Auschwitz survivor who died in Brussels in April 2014 at age 86
(65-year-old Chantal took her own life 16 months later), figured
prominently in many of her daughter’s films, and partly inspired
Chantal’s groundbreaking 1975 masterpiece Jeanne Dielman, about the daily routine of a Belgian housewife living in a small but tidy apartment. Nelly Akerman’s well-kept apartment is one of the stars of No Home Movie,
and she is captured there (or should we say imprisoned there? preserved
there?) for posterity in raw, grainy video footage shot by her rootless
daughter. Chantal also engages her mom in conversation about her long
life, but Nelly remains stubbornly reticent when it come to the
Holocaust. “[A] formally demanding and impossibly intimate video essay.”
–Variety. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 115 min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners. www.icarusfilms.com

Thursday, February 18, at 9:00 pm &

Friday, February 19, at 7:30 pm

THE SUMMER OF SANGAILE

SANGAILES VASARA

Lithuania/France/Netherlands, 2015, Alanté Kavaïté

Lithuania’s
first lesbian romance is a sensuous summertime saga about the
relationship between two teenagers who meet at a rural air show.
Sangaile, the more troubled and introverted of the two, is enamored of
stunt flying and dreams of becoming a pilot. But it’s the confident,
artistic, ebullient local girl Auste who really knocks her for a loop.
“[A] heartfelt snapshot of summer love and self-discovery, enhanced by
lots of breathtaking scenery and two hugely appealing lead
performances.” –Variety. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 88 min. www.strandreleasing.com

One
of the most perfect of Yasujiro Ozu’s family dramas, this piercingly
beautiful movie delineates the attempts of an elderly widower (Chishu
Ryu) to marry off his devoted grown daughter (Setsuko Hara) who is
reluctant to leave him. Sublime! Subtitles. 108 min. Special admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

Saturday, February 20, at 7:10 pm &

Sunday, February 21, at 8:50 pm

ARABIAN NIGHTS: VOLUME 3 – THE ENCHANTED ONE

AS MIL E UMA NOITES: VOLUME 3, O ENCANTADO

Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland, 2015, Miguel Gomes

The
final part of Miguel Gomes’ collection of sad, hilarious, fantastic
tales illustrating the ill effects of economic belt-tightening in
Portugal (see 2/6 at 6:45) has a split personality. The film opens with a
lushly imagined color segment in which the storyteller Scheherazade
takes center stage, wandering though opulent settings and landscapes in
exotic Orientalist garb, encountering lovers, bandits, and singers. Then
the focus switches to Portugal’s unemployed, working class bird
trappers, who catch and train finches for birdsong competitions.
Entitled “The Inebriated Chorus of the Chaffinches,” it is virtually a
documentary about this obscure subculture. Cleveland premiere.
Subtitles. DCP. 125 min. www.kinolorber.com

Saturday, February 20, at 9:35 pm

NO HOME MOVIE

See 2/18 at 6:45 for description

Sunday, February 21, at 4:00 pm

A Special Event!

Filmmaker in Person!

Post-film discussion!

GHOST TOWN: THE HEBRON STORY

USA/Palestine, 2015, Ellie Bernstein

Martin
Sheen narrates this new documentary about the West Bank town of Hebron,
which UNESCO, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch consider to
be the most violent city in occupied Palestine. The movie profiles some
of the families living there, and explores how Jewish settlements in
Hebron have hurt chances for peace in the Middle East. Filmmaker Ellie
Bernstein will answer audience questions after the screening, and so
will Sister Paulette Schroeder of the Christian Peacemakers Team,
Hebron, who appears in the film. Co-sponsored by Cleveland Peace Action
Education Fund; Interfaith Council for Peace in the Middle East; Jewish
Voice for Peace, Cleveland Chapter; and Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to
Return Coalition. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. Blu-ray. 80 min. www.thehebronstory.com

Sunday, February 21, at 6:30 pm

VINCENT, FRANÇOIS, PAUL AND THE OTHERS

See 2/19 at 9:20 for description

Sunday, February 21, at 8:50 pm

ARABIAN NIGHTS: VOLUME 3 – THE ENCHANTED ONE

See 2/20 at 7:10 for description

FEBRUARY 25-28

Thursday, February 25, at 7:00 pm &

Saturday, February 27, at 5:00 pm

Four by Sautet

New Digital Restoration!

NELLY & MONSIEUR ARNAUD

France/Italy/Germany, 1995, Claude Sautet

Emmanuelle
Béart and Michel Serrault star in this César-winning French film, about
a young woman burdened with debt and a ne’er-do-well husband who goes
to work for a wealthy, retired businessman 40-50 years her senior. An
unusual relationship ensues. “An exquisitely witty, beautifully moving
film…Classical French filmmaking par excellence.” –Time Out Film Guide. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 106 min. www.rialtopictures.com

Thursday, February 25, at 9:05 pm &

Friday, February 26, at 7:30 pm

THE PEARL BUTTON

EL BOTÓN DE NÁCAR

Chile/Switzerland/France/Spain, 2015, Patricio Guzmán

Master Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán says his new film is part of a diptych with Nostalgia for the Light, his sublime 2011 documentary of remembrance that linked astronomy, archaeology, and Chile’s traumatic political history. The Pearl Button is
similarly interdisciplinary. Focused at first on water and on the
oceans that border his country, Guzmán soon expands his view to include
the extermination of the indigenous coastal tribes of Patagonia and the
countless victims of torture who were “disappeared” into watery graves
during the Pinochet regime. “By turns lyrical, impressionistic and
profound.” –L.A. Times. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 82 min. www.kinolorber.com

Friday, February 26, at 9:15 pm &

Sunday, February 28, at 5:35 pm

THEORY OF OBSCURITY: A FILM ABOUT THE RESIDENTS

USA/Austria/Germany/Netherlands, 2015, Don Hardy Jr.

Devo,
Matt Groening, and Penn Jillette are among the fans interviewed in this
new film about The Residents, the avant-garde sound and video
collective that has released 60+ albums and numerous music videos, short
films, and DVD’s during the last four decades. And all this time the
band members have remained anonymous, thanks to the iconic eyeball masks
they wear when performing. This new documentary includes archival film
clips and performance footage, as well as interviews with members of
their management company, The Cryptic Corporation. Cleveland premiere.
DCP. 87 min. residentsmovie.com

Saturday, February 27, at 5:00 pm

NELLY & MONSIEUR ARNAUD

See 2/25 at 7:00 for description

Saturday, February 27, at 7:10 pm &

Sunday, February 28, at 2:00 pm

CENSORED VOICES

Israel/Germany, 2015, Mor Loushy

Winner
of the Ophir Award (Israel’s Oscar) for Best Documentary, this
revelatory movie takes another look at 1967’s Six-Day War, during which
the young nation of Israel decisively defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria
and nearly tripled its size with the occupation of the West Bank, the
Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. One week after the war, Amos Oz
(soon to become Israel’s most famous writer) recorded frank
conversations with returning soldiers, who expressed misgivings about
the treatment of Arab POW’s and the forced evacuations of Palestinian
villages. They worried about the future prospects for peaceful
coexistence. These recordings were partially suppressed by the Israeli
Defense Forces, but now can be heard. And in this movie, newsreel
footage and vintage photographs augment scenes of veterans, now in their
70s, listening to their younger selves. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles.
DCP. 87 min. www.musicboxfilms.com

Saturday, February 27, at 9:00 pm &

Sunday, February 28, at 3:50 pm

Film Classics in 35mm!

SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT

USA, 1986, Spike Lee

Spike
Lee’s groundbreaking first feature stars Tracy Camilla Johns as a
liberated Brooklyn woman with three lovers—the earnest Jamie, the vain
Greer, and the irrepressible Mars (Lee)—each of whom wants her solely
for himself. According to The NY Times , this modern classic “ushered in (along with Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise)
the American independent film movement of the 1980s. It was also a
groundbreaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change
in the representation of blacks in American cinema.” 35mm. 84 min. Special
admission $10; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, age 25 & under
$8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners. Co-presented by the Greater
Cleveland Urban Film Festival.